The Time I Made Pasta and it Turned to Mush

Before the pasta hit the water.
Things were looking up at this stage. 

The other night, I attempted to make homemade pasta and, a pound of flour later, things didn't turn out as planned.
It was a 2012 cooking resolution failure.

But in every failure, there are some key learnings...right??

I didn't learn much except for the fact that, while I might be skilled at some things (accessorizing, grammar and navigation), making pasta from scratch is not my strong skill. At least not yet, anyway...

I won't call these learnings, but I will call them some initial observations about my first foray into pasta making.

1. Pasta dough is fickle.
2. Making pasta is messy. I'm still finding flour in odd places in my kitchen.
3. Kneading pasta dough is hard work.
4. The act of kneading pasta dough can be quite therapeutic after a long Monday.
5. Pasta dough is very unforgiving.
6. I probably don't know what good pasta dough is supposed to look and feel like.
7. Sometimes you spend a lot of time making pasta and then it turns to mush in the final step.
8. Even though the texture might be off, if you put enough Pecorino on it, the pasta can be salvaged (or at least made edible).
9. I will never look at fresh made pasta the same every again.
10. I will appreciate fresh made pasta much more that I ever did before.

Do you have homemade pasta making tips? If so, leave me a comment and let me know. I need all the help I can get!